


Guarding a Broken Heart

by Creative_Cabbage



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Space, F/F, Female Bucky Barnes, Female Steve Rogers, Female Tony Stark, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Threesome - F/F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:14:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28664529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creative_Cabbage/pseuds/Creative_Cabbage
Summary: It starts in a seedy underground bar, far from Earth and even farther from decent civilization.Toni is there to drink away her woes, watch some of the local color. She never expects two officers, fresh off a battle cruiser to sweep her off her feet and right into bed. It's a nameless one-night stand, and when she leaves them in the morning she never expects to see them ever again.After all, it was just a hookup.Until a bomb goes off, Toni's life is at risk, and the Earth Republic just assigned two very familiar Senior Officers on her bodyguard detail.Slow Burn
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! 
> 
> Thanks for choosing to read this story. Really this is just some beautiful OT3 content that I sorely needed. And if you can't find it, write it! 
> 
> My depressed brain loves the validation so please leave comments and kudos. 
> 
> (Also I really could use a beta so if you've got the time and the will, please let me know I'll take all the help I can get, lol)

She was sitting in a bar, feeling like the main character. Around her the bar buzzed, full of the Friday night crowd - all flocking to the last good gay bar in the system. It was a mecca for the downtrodden, this tiny little hovel the last remnants of a crumbling old-style steel and glass skyscraper. She was drinking an Earth Classic - a gin and tonic and the taste of the real alcohol burned the back of her throat as she took another slow sip. 

"One sip of that probably costs more than my wages," a sardonic voice said next to her. "You celebrating something?" 

"The end of an era." Amaryllis took another slow sip, smiling around the rim of her glass, using the long seconds to really take a look. Every inch of here was severe, from the aristocratic nose to the posture. Even her hair looked severe - pulled back hard in the traditional updo of someone fresh off one of the Sovereign Nation's military ships. 

"That may just mean the beginning of something else," she stuck out a hand. "Senior Officer Jane Barnes. Earth Native fleet. My friends, however, call me Bucky."

"Bucky, huh? Why's that?" She left Bucky's hand hanging there in the air. 

"You're not a friend, so that's privileged information. By the way, I didn't catch your name." 

Toni winced internally. Letting lose her name - even here in the middle of nowhere - rarely ended well. She wanted one night where she wasn't inspiring awe and terror in everyone she met. She brushed Bucky's question off. "Very clever, very observant. I see how you became a Senior Officer. Must have a fancy uniform and everything." 

"I'll show it to you if you're interested." 

Toni laughed around another sip of her drink. The gall of this woman she'd stumbled upon was truly stupendous. Emphasis on 'stupid'. "Does picking up girls in bars always work for you?" 

"Sometimes. It's how I met my girlfriend." 

Interest flared in Toni's gut for the first time. There was just something about the unattainable that did it for her. It was exactly how she'd ended up here, in the Far Reaches.

"Does she know you're hitting on me?" 

"She's the one who picked you out." Bucky nodded over her shoulder at the blonde sitting at the table in the corner. She waved. 

"Oh?" Interest turned into heat, burning low in her gut. "Then why are you over here?" 

"She's shy." Bucky leaned in, whispered. "Until you get her into the bedroom, that is." 

Toni laughed, surprised at how quickly this had gone from zero to sixty. The burning feeling in her gut intensified, and she found herself adjusting her plants for that night. She let her hand rest over where Bucky's was drumming on the bar. "I might have to see that for myself." 

Bucky's eyebrows reached into her hairline. "Is that so?" 

"That's very much so." Toni looked over Bucky's shoulder, winked at where her girlfriend sat watching them. "Are you in Naval Housing on base?"

"Why are you asking?" her voice was a low whisper, hot and heavy in Toni's ear. 

"Because the walls there tend to be rather thin. And I'm a screamer." She grinned, drained the last of her drink as Bucky stuttered. She wasn't the only one who could put on the heat. 

She left Bucky at the bar, gaping like a fish, and did her best sashay over to where the girlfriend sat. "You must be the one with taste." She stuck out her hand. 

The girlfriend laughed, took her hand, and used it to pull her into the booth next to her. "Name's Steph." 

"Thought you were military." From the look of that haircut, there was no way she was anything but. 

"Lutenient Colonel Stephanie Rogers." She quirked an eyebrow. 

"You into it or something?" "Don't make me arrest you." Bucky was back, sliding into the booth across from them. "Got something for us officers?

Toni let herself flinch, curled her lip "I tend to avoid law enforcement." 

"There's no avoiding us now, sweetheart. You got us hooked." Bucky winked. 

Steph slung an arm around her shoulder. "Should we get out of here?" 

"My transport is just outside. It'll fit three." She grinned slyly at Bucky, slid out of the booth. "I think we already decided - it's my place tonight." 

Toni walked gestured towards the door, started walking in that direction. Behind her, she heard Bucky lean over to Steve, whisper: "She said she's a screamer." 

"Jesus Christ," she muttered, and two heavy sets of footsteps followed her out the door. 

Out on the street, Toni fished out her valet slip and handed it to the attendant. He nodded, by the time he got back both Bucky and Steph were crowded into her space. The heat in her gut had turned from hot coals to a full-on blaze. They towered over her, both at least a head taller and authority pouring out of every pore. She hadn't had a military thing before, but these two might have just changed her mind. Feeling powerless was something she'd so rarely found in her life, and it was turning her on big time. 

She told them as much when the car was pulled around. Toni had a few quick seconds to watch the blush creep up Steph's face before Bucky crowded her against the car and pressed their lips together. It was hot and messy and Steph was trying to pull them apart, but Toni felt like she had melted into Bucky's chest. 

"We are in public!" Steph pulled Bucky off of Toni. "Goodness sakes, keep it in your pants." 

"It's not a long drive to my place." She walked around to the driver's seat, slid in. One look in the rearview mirror confirmed that her lips kissed swollen and red. Bucky looked very satisfied with herself when she saw how wrecked she looked. 

"You okay to drive?" Steph slid into the car next to Bucky, the three of them crammed together on the bench seat. 

"Fine," she pressed start, let the car read her biometrics. "Sorry, it doesn't have a backseat." 

"Easier to do this," Bucky's hand slid up from her knee to the inside of her thigh, playing with the seam of her pants. She laughed when the acceleration punched forward, the car achieving lift in record time. 

The car slammed down on the launchpad of her penthouse, much harder than Toni intended. This was entire because Bucky's hand had remained on her thigh, rubbing infuriating circles. 

"Be lucky I didn't kill us," Toni gasped, as Bucky's hand roamed higher, finding the apex of her legs. "Good God, this can't happen here." 

Bucky laughed, moved his fingers away. She pressed a kiss into Toni's neck, whispered: "Show us where the bed is then." 

Toni opened up the door, stumbled to the elevator. She felt high, every molecule in her body singing in praise. She made it to the elevator, ordering the House Control where to go, and quickly. Steph and Bucky were boxing her into the corner. Bucky's lips were hot on her neck, then roughly removed. She didn't have long to wait however before Steph's lips found hers. 

She was short, she had to crane her neck up at an odd angle. Steph's lips were deliberate. Bucky had been all brute force, all heat, and tongue. Steph was strategic, deciding where to slide her lips, and her hands, so that Toni turned to puddle at her feet. 

She very nearly lost it when she pulled away to look at the open elevator doors. "Let's go, I don't want to take you for the first time in an elevator." 

Toni whimpered, tried to follow. Her legs wouldn't work. These two were magic and charism and had done things to her that other people could only dream of. She was worried, already, that if she were to take a step her knees would buckle. 

"C'mon." Bucky was gruff, picking her up and carrying her. "At least give me directions." 

"First door on the right," she panted. 

They slammed through the door and slammed onto the mattress, all three of them shedding bodysuits and shirts and underwear until it was the ecstasy of sin on skin. 

"Supplies, in the bottom left-hand drawer." Toni gasped, as Bucky's mouth moved from sucking a mark into her neck to sucking at her breasts. "Good, god your mouths." 

Steph had the audacity to laugh, hitched one of Toni's ankles over her head, and started sucking an even bigger mark into her thigh. Bucky pulled away, rolled across the bed to dig through her drawer. 

"She's got everything a girl could need in here." She rolled back over. "But you're not gonna need that to be satisfied tonight." 

Toni was about to make a scathing remark, but a long moan cut off her words. Steph had moved from marking up her thighs to prove Bucky's point. Her lips were hot and relentless. 

"See?" Bucky asked, reaching down to pull at Steph's hair. "She's a champion." 

Toni's hands replaced Bucky's shamelessly pulling hard and urging Steph to go faster, deeper. Her orgasm rocked through her, leaving her boneless and feeling half dead. She was going to ache tomorrow, in the best way. 

She felt Steph roll off her, heard a long moan. She opened her eyes to find Bucky three fingers deep in her girlfriend, laughing as Steph gripped at the sheets. "Fuck, babe," she panted. 

Toni just watched, in awe, as the two tumbled around on the sheets together. They were so hot together, Toni felt grateful and extremely turned on to be in their presence. Awed that she was allowed into this dynamic, with the two of them knowing each other better than they knew themselves. They knew her too, somehow. They worked together to figure out what made her squirm, what made her moan, and most of all - what made her scream. 

It was blisteringly hot. They fell into the sheets together, boneless and exhausted. She could feel the bruises and the marks they left, the imprint of their fingers all over - and inside - her body.

"That was," Toni gasped. 

Steph laughed, and Bucky laughed with her. Toni joined in, the three of them sharing a different kind of intimacy. The three of them laughing together until their sides ached, not knowing what they were laughing at. 

"I'm going to need to sleep for a million years," Toni sighed, trying to catch her breath. 

"Sleep, then." Bucky rubbed a hand through Toni's hair. "Not all of us can have stamina like Steph. 

She fell asleep laughing again, and her sleep was the dark and dreamless sleep of the weary.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke to feel disgustingly hot. A different kind of hot than the kind she'd experienced last night. Her body was under the covers and she was sweating, the moisture sticking to her skin, and gluing her to whomever she was attached to. 

The person she was stuck to groaned as she moved and she discovered it was Bucky. Steph was nowhere to be found, Toni realized as she sat up, rubbed at her eyes. 

"Your hair," Bucky said, grinning, looking up at her through long eyelashes. 

"Need to cut it again." Toni ran a hand through her thick, curly locks. Kept short, easy to manage. "Need a shower more." 

"Cold one." 

"Forgot to turn the heat down last night. Got a little bit distracted before bed." 

"Do you want coffee before or after your shower?" Steph was standing in the doorway, carefully balancing three mugs in her hand. Toni idly hoped that she didn't spill, seeing as she hadn't bothered to put a stitch of clothing on. 

"During," Toni groaned. "What time is it?" 

"Nine Fifteen," JARVIS - her house unit - said. 

"Shit," Toni scrambled out of bed. "I forgot, I have a very important meeting to make at 10 am, sharp. I cannot be late, again." 

"Oh," Bucky looked crestfallen. 

"It's fine," Steve said. "We can go." 

"No, no. Please - stay as long as you would like. It's just, I really have to go." She took the coffee from Steph, and in a move that surprised all three of them - kissed her cheek. "Seriously, stay. I have to go." 

Toni was grateful she'd attached the closet to the bathroom, and the bathroom to the hallway. That way she didn't have to suffer the painful humiliation of seeing those two gorgeous demi-gods in her bedroom again, right after she'd kicked them out. 

Or, had she kicked herself out? 

It was no matter. She called for a driver to pick her up on the roof, and flew through the fastest shower of her life. By 9:45 she was waiting on the roof, still sipping at Steph's coffee as she waited for her transportation to arrive. 

As her driver drove through the winding skyways of the city, Toni carefully applied enhancements. Extra coverup on her neck, despite the fact she'd been smart, and chose a jumpsuit with a high collar. 

"We're here." The car slid to the entrance outside her office building. Soon, the Stark Logo would be taken down, the building demolished or sold. The end of an era, just as she'd said last night. An ending of all illicit business in the Outer Reaches meant ending all business in the outer reaches. 

Press swamped her as she made her way to the front of the building. Tons of questions - had she known what her uncle was doing? Did she approve of the illegal mining operations - especially considering that they had provided most of her wealth. 

Pepper - her press agent - had prepared a blanket statement for times such as these. Facing the cameras and the press she said, flatly. "I did not know the illegal actions taken by my uncle before a few months ago. As soon as I knew of them I outed him to the authorities and decided to turn my business into doing something good. I'm consolidating all business to the Main Quadrant of Planets and funding scientific research -" she left off as someone pushed through the crowd of drones and human reporters. "Excuse me -" 

A voice cut through the air, loud and long. A scream, that echoed two of the most terrifying words. "A bomb!" 

Toni tripped in the fleeing stampede, trying to get away. She fell backward pushed hard as heat exploded against his chest and he landed, hard and slipped into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

About a half an hour before news of the bombing at Stark Industries broke on the national news, Steph and Bucky were standing - alone - in the bedroom of Toni Stark's penthouse. It is important to know that neither of them knew that the woman who had just chaotically rushed off to get ready for a meeting was the Toni Stark - an interplanetary business mogul and one of the richest people in the entire galaxy. 

"Well, that was - " Bucky took one of the coffee cups, speechless for the first time in a long time. 

"A new one for sure." Steve finished, sipping from the last coffee mug. "But she's got damn good coffee." 

"It's now just occurring to me that I have no clue who that woman is," Bucky said. "Did she give you her name?" 

Steve nearly spit out his mouthful of coffee. "No! I thought she told it to you?" 

Bucky started laughing, doubling over so hard that he had to set his coffee down on the nightstand. 

"Bucky!" Steph scolded, "Jane! Stop laughing - this isn't funny." 

"You're telling me, Steph, that the two of us having a nameless one night stand on the first day of our shore leave isn't hilarious?" 

Steph tried to control the smile that quirked in the corner of her mouth. "It's not. It's unfortunate - I really liked her." She paused, pinching her lips together to stop from laughing. "Whoever that was." She broke, joined Bucky in her laughter. 

Later, when they had drained their coffee cups and found their various articles of clothing that had been thrown the night before. The house computer had been kind enough to summon them a ride, and as they made their way to the roof Steph took a moment to appreciate where they were. 

"Whoever we hooked up with must have bank," Steph commented, feeling the wood paneling under her feet. "I've never been to a nicer place." 

"She was drinking real gin last night - that costs a pretty credit out here."

"And then some," Steph felt her wrist buzzing, tapped a button on her watch to answer the incoming transmission. "Commander!" She snapped to attention when she saw her boss' face echo out of the hologram. 

"Lutenient, Officer." He nodded to the two of them. "I assumed I'd find the two of you together. We've just had news come in from outside of the Stark Tower in downtown - there's been a bombing." 

"A bombing?!" Even in this sector, those were few and far between. It was a loose hold, but the law enforcement and the New Earth Republic still managed to maintain in the city - above ground. Shootings were becoming rare and bombings were now few and far between. 

"We think it was tied to Obediah Stane - the previous head of Stark Industries." 

"Isn't he on the run?" Bucky asked, stepping out of the open elevator door, onto the roof, wind whipping at her hair. 

"He is, yes. It's why we're calling you back onto duty." 

"Sir-" Steph protested. 

"I know, it's the only day one of your shore leave, but there are politics here and I need spare high ranking officers on the case. I'll give you the full briefing when you come into the base. Come straight to my office when you get here - we'll be waiting." He cut off the transmission. 

"We?" Steph asked. She glanced up as their transport came to a soft landing on the roof only a few feet from them. 

"This is serious shit, babe." Bucky showed her the news, scrolling on his own link. "Two people are dead and Stark herself is in the hospital under critical care." 

"Then let's get to the base." Steph climbed into the backseat of the car, gave directions to the driver to get them straight to the Naval base.

Steph wished that she had the thought to maybe go to their housing first to change into uniform or even something that was more appropriate than the tight-fitting and very rumpled clubbing outfits they had thrown on just last night. She could feel the blush burning her cheeks as her commanding officer appraised the tightness of her jeans and the low cut to Bucky's top. 

"I see you've been enjoying shore leave," Commander Charles Whitler said, taking a seat behind his desk. "At ease." 

Steph sank into one of his plush chairs, "You wanted to bring us in on the Stark Bombing. Do they need help on the investigation?" 

"They need help with Stark. Her life is still in danger, seeing as she somehow made it out of the bombing alive. She's under guard at the hospital on base and the guard will stay there until you relive them." 

"Us?" 

"You." He flicked a hologram on. "Here's the briefing I received this morning, and I handpicked you two for the job. You have enough tact and charisma to be able to be in the public eye to ensure this woman's safety without seriously messing things up for our relationship. Stark Industries provides most of our weapons and technological contracts. We owe the lives of our sailors to those -" 

His voice faded out as an image of Toni Stark came on screen, slowly rotating next to a full rundown of her history, her family, her education. Steph could feel her eyes widen. Either Stark had some kind of twin sister or - 

"Fuck," Steph whispered. 

"Excuse me, officer?" Whitler's attention snapped off reading the briefing to look at Barnes. 

"Its' nothing. Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. Her uncle was a bit of a piece of shit, wasn't he?" Steph said. 

"Indeed. Now his crimes have racketed up to attempted murder." He scrolled through the briefing to find the footage from that morning. "I'll make it short - your job is to make sure that he doesn't commit actual murder. Protect Stark at all costs." 

"Yes sir." 

"Yes sir." 

"Dismissed," he took one look at their rumpled appearances. "Stark will be in the hospital for a few days. Take another 24 hours of shore leave, get some sleep, and report to her hospital room at 0800 tomorrow." 

Steph rushed out of the office, shot Bucky a glance, and pulled her into the nearest empty conference room. 

"Well shit." 

"Why didn't you tell him! Get us off this assignment - it's definitely written in the bylaws somewhere that we cannot fraternize with those we are assigned to protect." 

"I just." Bucky sighed. "I liked the girl and hearing that she almost got murdered this morning made me feel terrible."

"You want to protect her." 

"Of course I do! Don't make that sound like an accusation, I'd want to protect any innocent person who almost got blown to pieces. It's our job. " 

Steph sighed, ran her hand through her short blonde hair, tugging lightly at the ends. "It's just, we have to tread a careful line. We can't do what we did again. Professionalism is essential, nothing more than a business relationship with her." Steph stuck out her hand. "We both need to stick to this pact or it will fall apart." 

Bucky shook it. "Professional relationship only, I know Steph. Hell, it's our job on the line if we mess this up. I know that much. It was a one-night thing, it was nothing. I'm already over it." 

"Over and done," Steph confirmed.

They both knew they were lying.


End file.
